Posted on 10/26/2015 1:46:41 PM PDT by amorphous
For anyone who might still be somehow unaware, the US is currently in a superpower staring match with both Russia and China. The conflict in Syria has put Moscow back on the geopolitical map (so to speak), creating an enormous amount of tension with Washington whose regional allies have been left to look on in horror as Russian airstrikes and an Iranian ground incursion dash hopes of ousting President Bashar al-Assad.
Meanwhile, in The South China Sea, Beijing has built 3,000 acres of new sovereign territory atop reefs in the Spratlys and although the reclamation effort itself isn’t unique, the scope of it most certainly is and Washington’s friends in the South Pacific are crying foul.
Beijing has continually insisted that it doesn’t intend to use the islands as military outposts, but the construction of runways and ports seems to tell a different story and so, Washington felt compelled to check things out over the summer by sending a Poseidon spy plane complete with a CNN crew to the area. Once the PLA spotted the plane the situation escalated quickly with the Chinese Navy telling US pilots to “Go Now!”
After that, an intense war of words developed with Defense Secretary Ash Carter insisting that the US would sail and fly anywhere it pleased and Beijing assuring the US that sailing within 12 nautical miles of the islands would prompt a harsh response from the PLA.
For weeks, the US was rumored to have been planning a freedom of navigation exercise in the Spratlys which, as we’ve pointed out several times this month, amounts to sailing by the islands just to see if China will shoot.
(Excerpt) Read more at zerohedge.com ...
Send those three female "Rangers." Perhaps we can get China to laugh itself into surrender.
I suggest the UN take the matter up. Isn't that what they're there for? Kind of silly for the US to send one ship in attempt to knock a chip off of China's shoulder.
Surely our president, a Nobel peace prize recipient, can do better than acting like a third grader going up against a neighborhood bully in his own backyard?!
If he can't get the UN to act, for a coalition of interested parties and work it out like adults. If comes down to having to show a flag, why not a multitude of flags and ships?!
Fighting WWIII with BHO as our CIC is a nightmare I hope the USA never has to deal with.
Obama will back down. Count on it.
Thanks.
Something like 60% of China’s trade goes through the Malacca Straights and Singapore is hostile to China these days. This is an effort by the Chinese to project power forward to cover their strategic choke point. If Canada were hostile to us we’d be doing something similar in or around the Saint Lawrence. This project won’t matter after China manages to field an effective aircraft carrier. That is, assuming they can actually do so - something the USSR never managed to pull off.
Agreed — should have been a freaking carrier group! But that could defend itself. A lone destroyer? Maybe. Those guys pack a LOT of punch for their size. But nothing like a full carrier group!
Of course, the ROEs are probably, “sit there and die.”
Didn’t Obama party with his Chinese Bud a couple of weeks ago ?
I agree with your comments.
Looks a lot like trying to get China to snap, so WWIII can get under way.
If he thinks folks will give him a turd term, he’s pure nuts.
I take that back. He’s just nuts.
“sailing by the islands just to see if China will shoot”
As others have said, the real question is, “If China shoots, what will Obama do?”
I hope the Destroyer has air cover, but I hope too much.
Unfortunately our advisories know time is growing short to take action while this man is still in office. That, O's weakness and lack of drawing clear lines, mean we're at a very dangerous point in time, IMO.
Can anyone tell me why he’s doing this?
There are only two reasons that I can think of that the klown kommander would send one Destroyer: He doesn’t believe the Chicoms are going to attack it or he believes that they will...
This is actually US policy and has been for a long time. One destroyer can’t reasonably be called an attacking force. So we get to play the aggrieved party if fighting breaks out. We did this to the Russians frequently during the cold war.
And yes, the idea is to send them there and see if they get shot at. Sometime the other side does shoot. The North Koreans did. The North Vietnamese did. The Khmer Rouge did. Ahem... the Israelis did also.
Yet....you read every article, eh?
Don't like it, don't click on it.
Yup.
Maybe he has our super-secret submarine aircraft carrier standing by, eh?
How the hell did you sneak that one past the Mods? Inquiring minds want to know...
I’ve not read article posted there, but I’ve read a goodly number of those that have been posted here. If I’m missing something please let me know. Show me one article that was worth a whit.
Good points, although the Liberty (Israel) incident has been beat to death here.
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